While Ireland have enjoyed plenty of wins against England over the last decade, it wasn't always the case with our previous victories standing out.
Tonight on Off The Ball, ex-Ireland players Mick Galwey and Kevin Maggs looked back as they joined our guest presenter Brian O'Driscoll and The Irish Times' Gerry Thornley on the Mansion House stage.
"When we had the two wins in '93 and '94, it was the amateur days and for those of you who remember the early '90s, when I was first capped, they weren't great days to be playing for Ireland. We were usually playing for a wooden spoon," said Galwey.
"I remember in '93 in particular, England were coming for their fourth championship, and it was only going to be a matter of form, but thankfully we produced on the day. Again in '94 where Simon Geoghegan had that great try, that was fantastic. But they were really once-off situations."
Gerry also picked out a "paradigm shift" after the 2003 World Cup as an important point where Ireland's belief against English sides soared, while Galwey noted the rise of the provincial sides like Munster and Leinster in Europe and the introduction of younger blood like Ronan O'Gara, Peter Stringer and John Hayes who "weren't carrying any baggage" helped Ireland.
Maggs also confirmed that some Irish provinces had shown an interest in bringing him from the English Premiership before he joined Ulster in 2004, and how stopping his "confident" English club team-mates from winning Grand Slams motivated him.
He also had one anecdote involving something former England player Andy Robinson said to him during a game at Twickenham.
"We beat them in Dublin and obviously in Twickenham, they were winning. When we walked out at half-time, he said to me 'remember Dublin, because it'll never happen again' and we won the second half and still lost."
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
